


Who Is Derek Nurse?

by Brioux



Category: Catfish: The TV Show, Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M, Online Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-02
Updated: 2016-09-02
Packaged: 2018-08-12 15:12:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7939324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brioux/pseuds/Brioux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek Nurse is on an episode of Catfish.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Who Is Derek Nurse?

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta'd so all mistakes are mine.

**The excitement in the Haus is so thick it could be cut with a knife. The boys—but mostly Nursey—are about to be on national television.**

**Not because they made the news for playing well. Not because there’s an ESPN feature on Jack (that’s not airing until next month). But because Derek Malik Nurse is appearing on an episode of Catfish on MTV.**

**Samwell University is a decent sized school, but it’s really not that big, and the community around the athletes is even smaller. So everyone who knows anyone knows that the men of the Samwell hockey team are making their national television debut tonight.**

**Despite offers from groups all across campus to join up for a watch party, the team decides to keep it simple and crowd around their own tv for the show. Only team members and significant others are allowed.**

**Nursey isn’t sure why, but he’s extremely nervous for the show to air. It’s not like he ended up looking like an idiot or and asshole, but he’s still worried about how he’s going to look.**

**The show starts, and Nursey leans into Bitty’s shoulder for a little bit of support.**

 

“Dear Nev and Max, my name is Mark Johnson and I like in Providence, Rhode Island. For the last year I’ve been talking to the most amazing guy named Blake who I met online. He’s funny, sweet, smart, and absolutely gorgeous as hell. And the best part is he goes to college that is only about forty minutes away from me. I’ve never seen him other than the photos he’s sent, but I still feel like I’m developing serious feelings for him. I want to take the next step and meet him in person, but every time I try, he comes up with some excuse. I think I could be falling in love with him, but I’m just not so sure I know who I’m talking to anymore. Can you help me?”

“Mark has been talking to Blake for an entire year now. That’s more than enough time to develop real feelings,” Max says.

“Definitely,” Nev says. “But Blake hasn’t wanted to video chat or meet in person, and it’s not like they live across the country.”

“No, they’re only forty minutes apart,” Max says, gesturing at the computer with his empty hand.

“Definitely shifty,” Nev says.

“Well let’s get him on the horn and see what he has to say,” Max says.

Mark picks up right away.

“Hey guys,” he says.

“Mark! Hey, man.” Nev says.

“What’s going on?” Max asks.

“Not much, really. Just want to figure out what’s going on.”

“So, tell us all about Blake. How did you meet, how long have you been talking, all of that stuff.”

Mark tells Nev and Max all about Blake Livingston, the guy he’s been talking to for about the past year. They matched on a dating app, and found out quickly they had a spark.

 

**The weird thing for Nursey about watching the show is seeing his own face show up on the screen. The photos that he posted on his Facebook, now showing up as though he’s this guy Blake. It’s unnerving, and brings back the unsettled feelings he had about the clear invasion of his privacy.**

 

Blake is originally from Poughkeepsie, New York, and has two older sisters. It turns out, Blake lives just forty minutes away from Providence because he attends Samwell University, where he’s a sophomore English major.

 

**The watch party all cheers when the school is mentioned.**

 

Mark has tried a few times to get Blake to meet him, but every time Blake has had an excuse. He even visited campus one time, but Blake claimed he was elsewhere for the weekend at the time.

 

**(They found out later the catfish was able to claim that because Nursey and the rest of the hockey team were on a road trip. Otherwise, it’s very likely that Mark would have run into Nursey on campus.)**

 

Max and Nev decide to head to Providence and meet Mark, in order to get to the bottom of this.

They make it to Providence and the first thing they do is get to know Mark a little more. He’s a part-time student at a local community college and works practically full time in a mail distribution center to support himself. He tells them the story of how he was forced to grow up faster because his parents kicked him out of their house after they found out he’s gay. He was only seventeen, and has had to fend for himself since then.

Meeting Blake was one of the best things to happen to him, since he was going though a period of time where life was extremely difficult. Talking to Blake gave him an outlet that made him feel good again—like maybe all the hardship has been worth it.

 

**Nursey knows the feeling. Maybe not as severely, but he understands the feeling of having an outlet like that for when things are really tough. For him, it’s always been hockey and poetry.**

 

After getting to know Mark, they get into what he knows about Blake. The screen fills with Nursey’s face and renderings of messages sent between the two as Mark talks.

Blake likes photography, writing and reading, hanging out with his friends and listening to music. He enjoys watching sports, and plays for an intramural flag football team with his best friend Brayden. He doesn’t have any social media other than the dating app, which makes Max and Nev automatically raise a red flag. He just calls and texts Mark.

 

**The freaky part for Nursey during the entire discussion is continuing to see his own face flash on the screen. The catfish had even used a photo Nursey posted of his bruises from a rough game to “show” Mark his injuries from flag football.**

 

Satisfied with this information, Max and Nev head back to their hotel to start digging into who Blake really is.

“Okay, so let’s start with this phone number,” Max says.

They search the number and it comes up as registered to a text app, with no name attached.

“Interesting. So this guy created a new number in order to talk to Mark. Let’s try the photos next,” Nev suggests.

“Woah,” Max says, as the first photo shows up linked to a Facebook profile. “Who is Derek Nurse?”

 

**The guys laugh and shove at Nursey.**

**“Who is Derek Nurse?” Holster asks, teasingly.**

 

Nev clicks on the link, bringing up the profile.

“This is definitely the same guy from the photos. And look, he goes to Samwell,” Max points out.

“Oh, wow. Okay, so there’s the connection between Blake and this guy. And look, here he’s quoting classic literature. Mark said Derek is an English major.”

“Could this be Blake, and he’s just using a different name?” Max asks.

“It could be. Let’s look at more of his photos.”

They click through some of his most recent uploads and find most of the photos that Blake has sent to Mark. They eventually stop on one of him with a guy named Will Poindexter.

“Well they look pretty cozy,” Max offers, his eyebrows raised. “Almost like—”

“Do you think this guy could be Derek’s boyfriend?” Nev finishes his sentence.

 

**Dex spits out the sip of water he had in his mouth, coughing.**

**“What?” he asks, though everyone shushes him.**

 

“Could Derek be using the Blake profile to cheat on his boyfriend?” Max asks.

“I mean, do we even know that this Derek guy is behind the Blake profile? His story somewhat matches up with what Mark said, but there’s a lot here that is new to us. Like this photo of the hockey rink. It looks like he plays for the school, but Blake only ever mentioned flag football to Mark. And I don’t see mentions of anyone named Brayden anywhere.”

“Let’s try to contact Derek. See what he says,” Max suggests.

“Okay here we go. ‘Hi Derek, my name is Nev and I’m one of the hosts of the show Catfish. We’re filming an episode right now and would like to talk to you. Please give us a call when you get the chance.’ Sound good?”

“Yeah, send it.”

It takes about two minutes for Derek to get back to them, agreeing to video chat as soon as he’s done class for the day. They wait around for about an hour until Derek is ready, and calls him up.

“Hey guys,” Nursey says when the call connects.

 

**“Look at that hottie!” Ransom jokes, and the guys cat call around them.**

**“Bro, did you clean your room for this call?” Holster asks with a chuckle.**

**Nursey flips them both off and they all focus back in on the show.**

 

“Hey!” Max and Nev greet him.

“What can I help you guy with?” Nursey asks.

“So, you know we’re the hosts of the show Catfish,” Nev says.

“Yeah, I’ve seen it,” Nursey says, nodding his head.

“Well we’re filming an episode now, and we’ve followed photos that led us to you. So we have to ask, have you ever heard of a guy named Mark Johnson?” Nev asks.

“No, I haven’t,” Nursey says.

“Okay, so you haven’t been talking to him through an online profile?” Max asks.

“No, definitely not,” Nursey says, shaking his head.

“Did you know that someone who says he goes to Samwell has been using your photos to Catfish someone else?” Nev asks.

“I had no idea this was happening, no,” Nursey says, running a hand through his hair. “And to be honest I’m a little uncomfortable with it.”

“That’s understandable,” Nev says.

“Well I can see why our Catfish chose your photos. You’re an attractive guy and seem to have yourself pretty put together,” Max states.

“Well thank you, I appreciate that,” Nursey says.

“What about a guy named Blake Livingston? Do you know anyone with that name?” Nev asks.

“I don’t know anyone named Blake Livingston. But it’s not that big of a school, so if you want I can ask some of my roommates,” Nursey offers.

“Do you think any of them would know him?” Nev asks.

“Possibly. I have one roommate who’s friends with basically everyone at Samwell on Facebook.”

They agree and Nursey carries his laptop to the kitchen, where a bunch of the guys are hanging out.

“Hey,” Nursey says, setting the laptop on the counter, “These are the guys from Catfish. They’re wondering if we know anyone named Blake Livingston here at Samwell.”

 

**“Bro, look how good we look!” Holster says, nudging Ransom.**

**“Bro, shush. I’m about to be super cool.”**

 

The guys exchange pleasantries.

“Rans, do you have him as a friend on Facebook?” Nursey asks on the tv.

“Lemme check, bro,” Ransom says, pulling out his phone. “Nah, I don’t have anyone named Blake Livingston. I have bunch of Blakes, but no one with that last name.”

“Would you be willing to email us a list of those guys?” Max asks, turning to Nev. “Maybe one of them could be the same Blake?”

“Yeah sure,” Ransom says.

“Thanks guys, we appreciate it!” Nev says.

“Definitely,” Nursey answers. “And hey, if you come visit campus, let me know.”

“Sure thing, bud. Bye!”

They end the call and both lean back in their chairs.

“So we can definitely rule out Derek being anything more than just the mask,” Nev says.

“Looks like it,” Max says. “Let’s go grab Mark and let him know what’s going on while we wait for the list to come through.”

They break the news to Mark, who isn’t surprised to find out the guy he’s been talking to isn’t the guy in the photos. He seems resigned, almost.

“Damn,” he says, shaking his head. “I mean I expected it, but still. It hurts.”

“The crazy thing is, Derek goes to Samwell,” Max says, pointing out the part of his Facebook profile that says as much.

“We ended up calling Derek and he was super nice and willing to help us a bit. He’s got a roommate who apparently has the majority of the Samwell student body as friends on Facebook, so we asked them if they know a guy named Blake Livingston,” Nev explains.

“There was no one named Blake Livingston in either of their friends, but his roommate had a bunch of guys named Blake. So they’re sending us a list of those names. We’re hoping maybe can go through them, and maybe one of them is the guy.”

As they’re talking, Nev gets the email of the list. Mark agrees to go through the guys named Blake with them, since they’re all there together.

They come across one who immediately sparks their interest.

“He’s from Poughkeepsie,” Max points out, his eyebrows raised.

“His last status is about writing a paper, so that could mean he’s an English major,” Mark says.

“And his profile picture looks like this definitely could be a bunch of guys hanging out after a flag football game.”

Nev clicks on the photo and enlarges it.

“Wait, I recognize that guy,” Mark says, pointing to one of the guys. “That’s his best friend, Brayden.”

“That’s definitely him?” Nev asks.

“Yeah, absolutely. He sent me a photo once when they were hanging out.”

“So this is probably our Blake,” Max says. “I mean, he’s an English major at Samwell, his best friend is in his profile picture, and he’s from Poughkeepsie?”

“It’s gotta be him,” Nev declares.

“Do you want to send him a message?” Max asks.

“Yeah,” Nev answers, starting to type. “Hi Blake, my name is Nev and I’m one of the hosts of the show Catfish. We’re here in Providence with Mark Johnson, and we would really like to come visit Samwell and talk to you. Please get back to us as soon as you can. Thanks.”

“So now we wait,” Mark says.

“So now we wait,” Nev agrees.

They don’t have to wait very long. Almost as soon as the words are out of Nev’s mouth, his phone dings with an incoming message.

“Woah,” Nev says.

“What did he say?” Max asks.

“Hi Nev. I’m familiar with the show. I agree, I think it’s time for Mark and I to meet. I’m busy for the rest of the day today, but I only have one class tomorrow morning. Can we meet then?”

“Okay,” Max says. “Looks like we have a meeting tomorrow morning.”

They reconvene the next morning and start the forty minute drive to Samwell. Mark is, of course, nervous. But he says it’s a good kind of nervous. He’s ready for this to happen.

They end up meeting at Blake’s apartment, which turns out to be right down the street from the Haus. It’s awkward, but Blake ends up explaining that while the photos weren’t him, he hadn’t lied about anything else. He just never felt confident in himself enough to meet guys as himself.

Mark, to his credit, listens to everything and seems to take it all in. After explaining everything, they agree to give both Mark and Blake some time to process it all.

When they reconvene a few hours later, Mark seems pretty content. Max and Nev leave them alone to chat and Mark says he’s still interested in getting to know Blake as himself, despite the fact that he’s been using Derek’s photos.

“Well while we’re here, why don’t we also meet up with Derek?” Max suggests when they reconvene.

“Yeah, I think maybe you owe it to him to explain everything,” Nev says.

“Um, okay,” Blake says. “I should probably apologize."

Nursey shows up at his apartment a little while later, and sits down on a chair on his own across from where Mark and Blake are both sitting

“So why don’t you start by just explaining why you used Derek’s photos,” Nev suggests. “I mean, you didn’t even change your name. You didn’t change anything about yourself.”

“I guess just because I admired the way he always seems to have himself together,” Blake admits. “I’ve had a few classes with him and he always seems like he knows what he’s doing with his life. He’s good looking and confident, which is something I want.”

 

**Holster coos and reaches over to ruffle Nursey’s hair. Nursey bats him away, but can feel the blush spreading across his cheeks.**

 

“I appreciate that,” Nursey says. “But I’m really not all that put together. I struggle with my own stuff too, which is really not easy.”

“You seem to handle it all well, though,” Max says.

“It’s mostly a front,” Nursey admits with a laugh. “But I also have a good support system that helps when I have bad days or start having a panic attack and stuff.”

“Yeah, you seem pretty close with the guys on your team,” Nev says.

“They’re awesome,” Nursey says. “They’re always there and they always have my back.”

 

**The team lets out a collective “aww” and Chowder jumps over to attack Nursey.**

 

“Your one teammate seems especially close, William?” Max says.

“Yeah, he’s definitely a good support,” Nursey says. “We have a weird friendship sometimes, but I know he’s always there for me.”

“Just friendship?” Nev asks, eyebrows raised.

“Yeah,” Nursey says, a blush spreading across his cheeks. “Definitely just a friend.”

Max and Nev both hum, but Nursey seems to be done with the conversation.

“Well I just want to apologize for using your photos,” Blake says, saving Nursey from further discussions about Dex. “I promise I won’t use them anymore.”

“Thanks,” Nursey says.

“Okay, well we’re going to head out. We can officially say this Catfish case is closed,” Max says.

Two months later, they call Mark and when the video pops up, he’s with Blake. The two started dating about a month after the show stopped filming, and so far it’s working out.

“How are things with Derek?” Max asks Blake.

“They’re fine,” he says. “He’s been pretty cool about the whole thing.”

“Good, well good luck to both of you,” Max says.

“Thanks,” they say.

“If there’s a wedding, we want to be invited,” Nev jokes.

**With that, the show is over. Everyone starts taking at one time and it’s almost too much for Nursey to handle.**

**“I still think it’s hysterical they thought Dex was Nursey’s boyfriend,” Holster says.**

**“They totally didn’t believe him when he said they’re just friends,” Ransom agrees.**

**“What are you hiding from us, baby frogs?” Holster screams.**

**“Who even is Derek Nurse?” Ransom asks, sending both of them into a fit of laughter.**

**“Did we record this?” Chowder asks. “I want to watch it again.”**

**“I want to pull that audio from when he asks who Nursey is,” Lardo says with a devious smile.**

**“I’m never going to live this down,” Nursey mumbles into Bitty’s shoulder.**

**“Oh, honey, no,” Bitty says with a laugh. “Definitely not.”**

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr as derekpoindexter-williamnurse


End file.
